Record-keeping device



" Aug. 1933- M. L. BRACKEN RECORD KEEPING DEVICE Filed May 28, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3331M M M $7,414

Aug. 22, 1933- M. L. BRACKEN RECORD KEEPING DEVICE Filed May 28. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 22, 1933 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE 1,923,064 RECORD-KEEPING DEVICE Martin L. Bracken, New York, N. Y. Application May 28, 1926. Serial No. 112,249

' 4 Claims. (01. 129-1622 The invention relates to record-keeping devices, and more particularly tothe provision of an improved loose leaf visible record of an exceedingly compact and eiiicient form, and to improved meth- 5 ods of arranging records to attain visibility thereof in improved manner.

The invention is applicable to card filing systems in which the cards may be arranged in pack formation, that is one back of the other in a filing drawer or the like; it is also applicable to ledger sheets, bill filesand other forms of record keeping devices in which it is desirableto quickly locate the desired records.

The invention provides a loose leaf visible rec 0rd in which cards or record leaves maybe positioned in alignment one behind another, with the index data or indicia on the upper edges of the cards or leaves normally concealed, means being provided whereby the file may be divided into small groups of eight or ten cards each and said groupsmay be rearranged and reindexed to maintain groups approximately equal in size and number of cards, as the file expands by the addition of new cards, and any group of cards or leaves may be simultaneously and instantaneously separated or spaced apart suificiently to enable the index indicia to become visible. This may be accomplished by the use of spacing or separating means, operable preferably by pressure of the finger of 30 an operator at one end of the cards, which serves to separate or space apart somewhat the opposite ends of the cards or leaves on which the index data, such as names, appears.

Objects of the invention may be mentioned as including the provision of a loose leaf visible record in exceedingly compact form adapted to provide a visible record which will permit removal and insertion of cards or leaves in minimum time and with minimum efiort; the provision of an automatic index which is expansible and flexible without the necessity of rewriting the name tabs; the provision of a device which will render existing records visible without the necessity of rewriting any part of the same; the provision of devices which will protect the records, prevent the same from becoming mutilated from fingering, and which will save time in finding particular cards or counts.

Other objects consist in the provision of improved elements and forms of construction and combinations of parts, all as will appear more fully in the following specification and be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood attention is hereby directed to the separating device;

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section taken through a number of following record cards with interposed separating members, the latterbeing depressed to separate the cards, the section being taken through the cards and separating members at the point in one of the separating members indicated by section line 6-6 in Fig. 5'; v

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the card-separating device shown'in Fig. 3, this view showing the separating device in depressed or operative position;

Referring to the drawings a section of a vertical card index is shown by way of illustration,

the cards being in stacked pack formation,

that is, one behind the other, in any usual form of filing drawer or container, indicated at 1. The record cards 2 may be of the usual character, each of which carries index indicia 3, such as the name of a person, afiairs relating to whom are to be recorded on the particular card indicated. The index data 3 may, of course, be printed or written adjacent to the upper edge of the card, adjacent to the left-hand edge of the card as is usual, or it may be otherwise arranged. When the index indicia are thus arranged, and the cards are arranged in succession one behind the other in vertical position and in an ordinary cabinet drawer or tray, these names or indicia will, of course normally be concealed, and in the ordinary card file of this character a particular name or index designation on the card can only be made visible by moving forwardly the card in advance of the desired one with the finger. Thus to find a particular card it is ordinarily necessary to finger a succession of cards one by one until the desired one is reached.

In the ordinary card file, printed tabbed guides,

such as those'indicated at 5 in Fig. 1 of the drawings, cannot be used to maintain groups of approximately equal quantities of record cards, which groups are necessary for the operation of the file. Such tabbed guides, however, may be used with the present invention to index large sections.

In the ordinary card file the succession of record cards positioned between successive pairs of guides must necessarily be fingered one by one until the desired card is located. In accordance with the present invention the cardseparating devices for the entire group or succession of cards may be simultaneously operated by the finger'of the user as is indicated in Fig. 1 so as to spread all of these cards apart at the ends thereof containing the names or other index data. This is effected by the provision of devices which upon being depressed by the finger of the operator, or otherwise operated,

will cause lateral movement of devices operated by such manual operation, between the individual cards. 7

A preferred method of obtaining this result consists in the provision of separating devices 10, one of which may be loosely positioned between each adjacent pair of the record cards having normally concealed data thereon. These card separators 10 preferably take the form of thin sheets of any suitable material, such as card board, thin sheet-metalor the like which may be of lengths substantially equal to or slightly shorter than the lengths of the record cards so as to fit into the filing drawer with the cards. Each separator has a base portionlila on which it stands on the'bottom of thefiling drawer. A tab or upstanding portion 10b is provided at the upper edge of the member/adapted to be depressed by the finger, and a laterally flexible portion 100 which may be connected to the fingeroperated tab 102) by a connecting orarm-like portion of the member 10d are also provided.

' In the form of device illustrated in thedrawings the member is cut or otherwise provided with a slit or cut-out portion 10c extending laterally into the member from a side edge thereof beneath the upstanding portion 10b and the connecting arm 10d. The device may, however, take terial whether the upper edges of the portions 100 and 10d of the'separators rise slightly above the tops of the record cards or not, so long as they do not rise in position to obscure any of the indicia on the index guides or supplementary index guides.

When a group of cards is to be separated in the manner indicated in Fig; l, the tabs 10!) of the separatorsof the selected group of record cards will be cngagedby the finger of the operator as indicated in Fig. 1, and depressed. It will be preferable to swing the group of cards forwardly,

by engagement of the finger with the tabs. 10b

of the separators, at the same time that the tabs 10b are thus depressed. The result of the depression of the tabs 10b will be to flex or how the portions 100 of each card'separator either forwardly or rearwardly. This is, of course, for the reason that the downward swinging of each tab 101) imposes a strain on the rnaterial of the portion 100 of the separator which can only be accommodated (since portions 100 are not elastic) by the bending of portion 100 forwardly or rearwardly. The right-hand ends of the cards, between tabs 101), are held closely together by the downward pressure of the fingers on these tabs 102); the portions 100 of the separators being part way between the right-hand and left-hand edges of the'cards, the result of the lateral fiexure of parts 10c of the separators will be to swing the record cards somewhat apart from each other in a fan-like manner, as is indicated in Fig. 1, to make sufliciently visible all of the names or other designating data on the left-hand ends of the upper portions of the record cards.

This action is indicated in the sectional view of Fig. 4 in which the record cards 2b are all shown ash'aving their upper edges swung apart by the laterally flexed portions 10c of the separators 10.

It will be obvious that the separator members 10' may take various forms, as stated, so long as each is provided with a portion which will flex or otherwise move forwardly or rearwardly by suitable connection with an operative upstanding portion which may be depressed orotherwise operated by finger engagement.

It should be noted that the card-separating devices may be entirely separate members or that each separator may be attached to a record card on which it is used, that is, by securing the record card and separator together at the lower edge thereof.

It may likewise be noted that the card-separating devices, as previously described, are in effect blank index guides which can be moved to any position in the files without being altered.

It should likewise be noted that in various of its aspects the invention may be applied to various loose leaf record files and to such-filing or record-keeping devices as ledger sheets, in which case the card-separating devices may effectively be used to separate various leaves in order to make the index data of a plurality of them visible at the same time, in the same manner as has been described in connection with the card index. Accordingly the term record leaves is made use of in various of the claims as comprising record cards or sheets or leaves of various characters.

It will likewise be noted that the invention provides means whereby record cards or the like, in pack formation, may be provided with visible indexes or with indexes which become visible when needed while the indexes are arranged in what is known as one position, that is, the cards being filed vertically in an ordinary cabinet drawer or tray with the indexes all in alignment with each other, whereas in previous arrangements visibility of the indexes has only been possible when each card has a separate guide and these guides are staggered across the top of the file from one side to the other.

, the adjacent record leaves.

In record-keeping devices, a leaf-separating device, adapted to be positioned between a pair of record leaves one back of the other, and comprising a sheet of material adaptedto lie flat between the record leaves with an upstanding portion at one part of the upper edge, to receive finger-pressure, the sheet being cut away for a space below said upstanding portion, and having a flexible portion adapted to lie between the record leaves, connected with said upstanding portion, and adapted to flex laterally, to separate the adjacent record leaves, upon depression of said upstanding portion.

3. In record-keeping devices, a leaf-separating device, comprising a sheet of material adapted to lie or stand fiat between a pair of record leaves; said sheet having a base portion on which it may stand, a flexible portion rising from the base por- 

